By Dave Forster
Earle Stevermer was so prolific at raising money for the Sleepy Eye Lions Club that it amazed his friend Russ Sorensen. How did he always – always – finish as the top ticket seller of every fundraiser Sorensen ran?
“Well, you just walk up to the person and say, ‘Here’s your ticket,’ ” Stevermer once explained. “And usually they just buy.”
There was more to his pitch, of course. Stevermer could talk to anybody and had a passion for helping Sleepy Eye, the town he adopted after transferring there with Del Monte in 1970.
“He made you feel like, ‘Yeah, by golly, I’m helping the community out, too,’ ” Sorensen said.
Earle William Stevermer, known for his 21 years on the city council, his decades of field work with farmers and his love of the golf course and high school sports, died June 6 at Mayo Clinic Mankato Hospital at the age of 81. Visitation with the family is 4-7 p.m. today at Sturm Funeral Home in Sleepy Eye and an hour before his 11 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial on Friday at St. Mary’s Church.
On city council, Stevermer worked to upgrade the city’s stormwater and sanitary sewer systems, and served on the charter commission that created the city manager position, said Ed Treml, the city clerk then. He was also a strong advocate for adding the trail around Sleepy Eye Lake, said Wayne Novotny, who served on council during much of Stevermer’s tenure.
“I would call him pragmatic in that he didn’t really show an ideology at all on the council, but whatever seemed to work best was where Earle was,” Novotny said.
Nate Stevermer, one of Earle’s three children with wife, Pat, followed his father into public service and is now a city councilman himself.
“He just said to do more listening than you do talking,” Nate said. “He talked a lot, but I think more than anything he tried to listen to everybody’s point of view before he made a decision.”
During his career at Del Monte, Stevermer became a fixture for farmers growing peas and sweet corn north of Sleepy Eye. In winter he visited farms to arrange contracts on the crops, and in the spring and summer he’d return to help oversee field work and direct the harvesting schedule, said Jim Krzmarzick, who grew up on a farm that contracted with Del Monte.
“He was part of our family,” Krzmarzick said.
Krzmarzick, who also worked several summers on Del Monte field crews under Stevermer, recalled a patient supervisor who cared deeply about satisfying all the parties he served, from farmers to Del Monte to work crews.
“Earle was so personable,” Krzmarzick said. “He loved communicating. He loved people. He loved life – he really did.”
He brought that love to the playing fields as well. Stevermer helped Sleepy Eye Public School sports in various roles over the decades, from running the clock and scoreboard to coaching the golf team to leading the school’s athletic booster club.
Refs, at times the target of his friendly ribbing, knew him simply as “Earle,” said Cory Haala, Sleepy Eye Public’s activities director and a regular seatmate at the scorer’s table. He also enjoyed recalling the action and sharing his takes, “whether it was the coach called the wrong play or the ref stunk,” Haala said.
Beneath it all, friends said, Stevermer cared deeply about the kids playing the games.
“Sometimes he put on a tough front, but in the long run he was always a big supporter,” Haala said.
The golf course was another recipient of that support. Stevermer served years as president of the board of directors at Sleepy Eye Golf Club and almost daily as unofficial ambassador in the clubhouse, where he loved to regale visitors with his stories.
“It didn’t matter if he knew you or he didn’t, he’d just start talking,” said clubhouse manager Jason Severson.
Stevermer carried that fondness of conversing – even with strangers – throughout his life. He seemed able to talk about any subject, recalled his longtime friend Sorensen.
Nate Stevermer expanded on his father’s ability to talk with whomever about whatever: “He could hold a conversation whether he knew what they were talking about or not.”
And he could sell a ticket for the Lions Club whether the buyer wanted it or not. Sorensen recalled unsuspecting targets sometimes trying to get out of a sale by telling Stevermer they didn’t have any cash on them.
No matter.
“I’ll see ya next week,” he’d say.
Reach Dave Forster at dforster@ cherryroad.com or (757) 477-6569